Angioimmunoblastic-like T-cell non Hodgkin's lymphoma: outcome after chemotherapy in 33 patients and review of the literature.

We analyzed 33 patients with AILD T-NHL in a retrospective multicentric study. The median age was 62 yr (35-84 yr) (19 patients over 60 yr). Advanced disease (n = 31) and B-symptoms were consistently found (n = 29) and 20 patients had bone marrow involvement. The main laboratory abnormalities were: anemia (n = 13), hypereosinophilia (n = 13), lymphopenia (n = 14), hypergammaglobulinemia (n = 17), elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level (n = 24). First-line therapy was chemotherapy (ChT) alone (n = 25) or ChT after steroids (n = 8). Most patients received a CHOP-like regimen for a median number of 6 cycles and 3 patients received interferon alpha (IFN alpha) as consolidation after chemotherapy. With a median follow-up of 46 mo, 60% achieved a complete response but the outcome was poor with a relapse rate at 56%, a median survival referring to the total population was of 36 mo (2-108+ mo) and an overall survival at 5 yr of 36%. Two patients received high-dose chemotherapy (with total body irradiation) and autologous progenitor-cell transplantation for chemosensitive relapse and were free of disease at, respectively, 76 and 24 mo+. In conclusion AILD T-NHL still has a poor prognosis compared to other NHL. The role of intensive therapy and IFN alpha still remains to be evaluated.